Firearm or weapon?

NRA materials use the term firearm. That’s the correct term in the context of safety and marksmanship training. In the context of gun control, the correct term is weapon.

Gun control is all about items usable as weapons. If it wasn’t, then knives, sprays, even sticks wouldn’t be so heavily regulated. It takes more legal hoops to get a baton permit in many states than to get one for a firearm. The 1938 Nazi prohibition on Jewish weapon ownership specifically mentioned sticks and batons as prohibited items. Predators know that sticks and stones can break their bones. Exhibit one: Goliath.

The rifle in the picture above could be a single shot benchrest gun in 6mm PPC or a 4-shot .30-06 M70 of Carlos Hathcock fame or a 10-shot 50BMG from Serbu — to the foes of civilian gun ownership, all are anathema. They understand correctly that any one of these can send them to well-deserved hell. The only reason why we, the lawful gun owners, care about the details is that we value the defensive properties of small arms. An AR15 is much better for rebuffing determined close-range assaults by numerically superior foes than a single-shot Sharps. For sniping the enemies of individual freedom, almost any gun would do fine. That the gun owners of America haven’t focused on that fact speaks volumes of their patience and forbearance.

That the gun control pushers are focusing on the defensive firearms also speaks volumes of their intentions. Since Americans have no access to other short-range defensive tools, they have to rely more heavily on guns and any reduction in the availability of proper equipment becomes immediately detrimental to our safety. Not only the guns become less capable, but our training immediately becomes mismatched to the equipment and must be renewed at great cost in money, ammunition and time.

Posted in civil rights, rifle, rkba, self-defense, weapon | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

More snapshots from Prague

Typical Czech river sailors?

Nice legs.

A boy and a girl

A doggie date

A small pride of cats

A spaniel? (Update) Apparently a dachshund.

Posted in interesting people, pet | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Location advice needed for Nashville area

I need access to either a rock formation, or something mountainous (similar to Middle East or Afghanistan) or some urban ruin — but the catch is that I would bring rifles with me. Certain obvious locations in town are off limits for that reason. Suggestions?

Posted in advice requested, weapon | 1 Comment

Photos of Tavor in Israeli use

I am looking for documentary photos showing Tavor rifles in actual use. These have to be publishable as elements of an illustration — either in the public domain or with known, reachable authors. High resolution — 2000px and up highly preferred.

Posted in advice requested, rifle | Tagged , | 6 Comments

After a string of fire.

Suppressed SU22 is light enough and quiet enough for a comfortable social outing in the woods of Tennessee. Everyone shot suppressed that day, so the ear plugs aren’t in evidence.

Posted in interesting people, rifle, sound suppressor, training | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Freedom of speech in New Jersey

JPFO makes this target available for free download. New Jersey makes shooting at it illegal. Looks like a ready-made First Amendment legal challenge to me. Especially with the text removed, it becomes a very pure example of recognized evil — and New Jersey’s law prohibiting shooting at human or humanoid targets sides becomes a very obvious violation of political speech.

We fired off a few boxes of ammo, taught the kids a few tricks and put a bunch of holes in some of the ‘zombie’ targets that Frith and I had picked up at the Gun show a few weeks back. Their legality in NJ might be something of a grey area – you aren’t allowed to shoot targets that look like people in the state.

I suppose the politicians who passed that law view zombies as their pet voters. Given the number of the dead voting in Chicago, I wouldn’t be surprised if the same situation obtains in New Jersey. Zombie voters would be ideal electorate, as they are predictable and undemanding — they only want brains and most New Jersey politicians don’t possess that, as evidenced by the content of the laws they write.

Correction, New Jersey politicians are smart, just not in constructive says. They are highly evolved predators who managed to turn a formerly nice state into a legally-restrictive, highly-taxed hellhole. They are very clever scavengers feeding off the remains of a state that they themselves helped destroy.

Posted in civil rights, rkba, self-defense, training, weapon | Tagged , , , , , | 12 Comments

AR15 parts for sale.

Posting these for a friend:

Custom Lewis Machine & Tool (LMT) 10.5″ Upper receiver with:

  • LMT 10.5″ chrome lined 1:7 twist 5.56 Heavy Barrel
  • LMT Complete Semi Auto Bolt Carrier Group
  • Tactical Latch for Charging Handle
  • Phantom Flash Hider
  • LaRue Tactical 7.0″ free-floating Handguard with LaRue Locking System.
  • Yankee Hill Machine Low Profile Gas Block Mounted Front Flip Sight
  • GG&G Low Profile adjustable folding Back Up Iron Sight (BUIS)
  • Bushmaster 2″ Rail Covers (11 total)

$1,850.00

Also:

LMT SOPMOD Stock Body L7LA2BA

Already have a Mil-Spec stock on your AR-15 and want a better stock?  Improved cheek weld for better shooting position. Watertight battery storage compartments. Padded buttplate reduces felt recoil and provides no-slip surface against web gear and body armor. Updated generation with dual quick detach sling swivel holes. LMT is the sole provider of the SOPMOD Buttstock to the US Special Ops Command, US Army, US Navy, US Air Force, US Marine Corps and other government agencies and bureaus.

$159.00

If interested, please email Chris at chris@archangel-industries.com

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A strangely charismatic little rifle.

Little Badger in the hands of self-defense trainer Kathy Jackson.

Little Badger looks like an illicit love child between an AR15 and a Mk3 Sten. It’s all black metal and Picatinny rails, with a ladder sight of M2 carbine and muzzle threaded for flash hiders or suppressors. It was meant for kids but charms as many adults. It’s a single shot, manually cocked break action which looks “evil” enough for the Feinsteins of the world to hate it on pure style. I shot it and it was accurate and easy to handle. It also looked and felt like something out of a cyberpunk novel.

Posted in book, interesting people, rifle | Tagged , | 10 Comments

Speaking of Henry lever actions

I need to get the 44Mag out to the range and figure out the drop past 100 yards. 240gr bullet has muzzle velocity of 1745fps. At this time, the Big Boy is zeroed for 50 yards. If zeroed for 100, it would have 18″ of drop by 200 (aim at the head, hit the chest) and 65″ of drop by 300 (aim half-height above standing silhouette). I am just curious about the practical use of this caliber at extended range. Bullet velocity even at 300 would still be higher than most 45ACP loads are at the muzzle. With shots all touching at 50 yards, I should be able to get them within a pie plate at 300 without much trouble once I figure out the holdover with the duplex reticle.

Posted in ammunition, rifle | Tagged , , | 16 Comments

Comblock guns

Back in the 1980s and 90s, comblock guns referred to weapons produced in the Warsaw Pact countries and China. Given the changes in our world since, we may soon be able to apply that term to Armalite rifles produced in Illinois and Bushmaster carbines made in New York, along with Henry lever actions made in New Jersey.

Posted in humor, rifle | Tagged , | 8 Comments

M1A Scout in a Rogue bullpup stock

18″ Springfield Scout Squad rifle in a Rogue bullpup stock.

In the two views, you can see the “belt and suspenders and then some” approach to sighting — 4-16x scope and red dot (both Vortex) plus offset Dueck iron sights, all usable without having to remove or shift anything. The resulting rifle is a pound heavier than the similarly equipped M1A would have been but nearly a foot shorter.

Posted in rifle | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

My hunting rifle and Katyn forest.

I own many rifles, but I only hunt with one of them. Feinstein’s latest effort to disarm Americans would ban it. It would ban that entire shape of rifle (bullpup) as well as that entire category (semi-auto with a box magazine). So the whole claim that hunters are unaffected is a lie.

I own many rifles, but only one of them is my choice for home defense. It’s the same rifle — there’s no time to re-learn different controls under stress. I hunt once a year, but self-defense is a full-time need. So the same proposed legislation would also rob me of that. Classy.

How did we ever get the “compassionate liberals who love nature” to take the view that hunting is OK in general? Hunting for food has been largely regulated out of existence, but they claim to approve of hunting for fun. “Your hunting rifle is safe,” they said. How did a recreational activity become more important than saving human lives from predators?

We all know that hunting rifles are offensive devices. With them, we can bring down an animal from a distance. All the high-profile assassinations of the 20th century done with long guns were effected with the common hunting rifles or nearly identical military surplus bolt actions. So we know the congressional creatures who want us disarmed are more worried about weaker, shorter range but faster handling defensive arms. In other words, they don’t expect Americans to take the initiative and go after them personally with a bolt 30-06 or a lever 30-30, but they do want us stripped with the ARs and AKs suitable for fending off freelance or government criminals. They view us as prey and themselves as meta-predators.

Politicians are by and large meta-predators. Many of them do not rape, rob or murder with their own hands but send others to do it for them. Gun control is the main way to make their minions more effective at subjugating the population. They aren’t worried about the population taking the fight to them. They haven’t been very wrong so far.

If they do succeed in disarming America, we would have a short window of opportunity to even the score. That would require bypassing all the enforcement organizations and going directly after those who give the orders. Maybe they ought to re-think that whole concept of not being afraid of the hunting rifles.

And maybe we should re-think the theory that we can give up our defensive arms and survive. The threat to the enemy isn’t the guns themselves but the trained and motivated people who know how to use them. Enough of the weapons will remain in circulation for retaliatory action, and their motivation would have been supplied by the actions of the disarmers of people themselves. At that point, it would matter little if an AR or a single shot break action or a box with ANFO gets used — people who wish to make a point usually find a way. So the threat to them aren’t the horns or hooves of the uppity citizens but their determination to remain independent. That puts us at much higher risk right after the confiscation of the firearms and makes fighting a safer choice than complying. Katyn isn’t just a village West of Smolensk.

PS: Australia provides us with another glimpse of the endgame: an effort to ban even single shot rifles. (I did verify the data on Infowars site and found it correct.)

Posted in author, hunting, rifle, rkba, self-defense, sound suppressor, weapon | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

New teeth for my model.

Wendy has appeared in two of my RKBA posters. Her daughter and husband have been in a dozen more. Now we can help her in turn and I would urge my readers to put what you can in the fund.

New Teeth for Wendy!

I put in $50 so far and will add more once I get paid for the recently completed projects. Give more if you can, less if necessary — but do help her out. She’s always gone all out to help others and now is the best time to recognize that with our support.

Posted in interesting people | Tagged , | 4 Comments

If you like folding stocks on AR15s, here’s another upper option

Since their web site is still in development, I’ll post the two sides of their SHOT show handout.

These should start shipping by Spring. You can see their Facebook page for now.

Posted in rifle | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Where flat-shooting pistols really shine

Coonan .357 and other flat shooting handguns really shine in the desert. They weigh less than rifles yet cover a decent range for defense. Towards the South of our country, that may be a serious consideration. A pistol in 10mm Auto would shoot as flat but the Coonan is also unusually accurate for a handgun.

Posted in pistol | Tagged , , | 17 Comments

Canadian photographer Dickson Ly

One of many interesting people met at SHOT show, Dickson runs Transgressive Media.

Posted in interesting people | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Match accuracy in a plastic rifle?

Last year, I shot a Chiappa 15-22 at an indoor range with a 1-4x scope. At 25 yards, the bullets consistently clover-leafed. I absolutely did not expect that result from a lightweight upper on a plastic lower, especially since I am not an expert rifleman.

I asked Ron about the typical accuracy of these carbines and he told me that they are consistently sub-MOA with CCI standard velocity ammunition. I guess mine wasn’t an aberration.

The other accuracy surprise to me was the Henry rimfire rifle. It’s at least as accurate as the 15-22. Considering the barrel thickness and the trigger quality, it’s reasonable but I am used to shooting lever actions with open sights and so think of them as 50 yard guns.

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Back from SHOT show

The 2013 show was a major success. I will be posting photos and articles from it in the next several weeks. I even managed two range trips: the first at Media Day (which was fun but extremely cold and windy) and the second on the day after the show. The second shoot, with 60*F weather and only friends present, was the fun one.


I got to try out a number of new guns, including this three-barreled 12ga. Fun! At least with birdshot, the kick wasn’t much. Until I tried it, I scoffed at the idea but now I am more of a fan. The action is short — 3.5″ shorter than a typical pump. Each barrel has its own choke tube, so it can be used for progressively tighter chokes for hunting or with progressively looser chokes for defense.  A typical hunting set-up might be #7 cylinder/#7 improved cylinder/#6 full. A typical defense load might be slug with cylinder/#000 buck improved cylinder/#buck with cylinder…or whatever other variation that makes sense to the user. The rotating strikers are similar to the old Remington derringers, with no external parts. So the mechanism is sealed against sand and the first three can be fired very rapidly.

Reloading is slower than with a pump but simpler. Eventually, this shotgun would be available with ejectors which would speed up the reloading. While the rotating striker arrangement isn’t quite the duplicate firing mechanisms of the classic safari rifles, it’s very simple and doesn’t depend on recoil for re-cocking in the event of a misfire. 12ga 3″ slugs aren’t quite the 577Nitro, but they are adequate for North American game. DDupleks makes very impressive machined steel loads, and Brenneke and Rio both make high-penetration lead loads. You might prefer the 28″ barrel version for wing shooting, but the 18.5″ is handier in the bush.

Will post photos and comments about other guns I’ve tried as I recover from the dry desert air and smoke-filled casino hallways. But for seeing friends and doing business at SHOT, I can’t recommend Las Vegas except to a complete masochist. The local culture makes New York City look almost friendly by contrast.

Posted in interesting people, shotgun | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

The transparent shotgun

Of the guns I shot at SHOT show Media Day, the competition version of MKA1919 impressed me the most. It was the most transparent clay-busting device ever — I hit 9 of 9  with it though I am a lousy wingshooter. Felt recoil was minimal enough to ignore (below that of a 20ga Remington 1100), it pointed great with an EOTech sight and the ergonomics were just right. So despite the bitter cold and strong wind, I first broke several clays, then figured out that I don’t have to overthink the process and smoked the rest into dust. Five and ten round magazines that load like AR15, familiar interface and — did I mention that, no real recoil — made me hold onto that shotgun like it was my precioussssss. Must have looked funny because everyone around grinned with me.

They are at booth #2825.

Also worth seeing, the Tavors at IWI booth #15238.

More as I get around the show floor and as I transcribe my Media Day notes.

Posted in shotgun | Tagged , | 7 Comments

New Keltec KSG video

Mesa Tactical | Keltec KSG

Posted in shotgun, training, weapon | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments